


Teleporter Malfunction

by DeckofDragons



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Body Swap, Hallucinations, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mental Illness, Panic Attacks, Pyromania
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-15 15:24:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16935771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeckofDragons/pseuds/DeckofDragons
Summary: Pyro and Medic test Engie new two-man teleporter. It has some unintended side effects.





	1. Guinea Pigs

“It’s done,” Engie called as he poked his head into the common room where everyone was hanging out. “And ready for testing, any volunteers?”

Pyro raised his hand, shooting up from the table. “Me.”

Medic had anticipated that, Pyro liked to play guinea pig for him too. It had potential to be dangerous but probably wasn’t and if something bad did happen Medic could fix it.

“Anyone else?” Engie prompted. “I need one more.”

“Uh… what if we get like merged together or something?” Scout asked. “Because I don’t want that, that would suck real hard.”

Engie frowned at him. “You won’t… probably. I tested it on objects, they came out the other side just fine.” He turned his head towards to Medic. “Doc, you want to since your boyfriend’s doing it?”

“Fine.” Medic stood and adjusted his coat, hoping to hide his blush. His relationship with Pyro was none of their business, they didn’t need to mention it so blatantly so often. Not that they _did_ mention it often but Medic had only recently found out that they knew – all of them, _even_ Soldier – that they’d known from the very start, even before it was official.

“Don’t die maggots,” Soldier shouted at them saluting.

“Yeah and don’t become a weird merged monster thingy either,” Scout added. “I have enough nightmares about you already Doc, don’t need more.”

Medic rolled his eyes as he and Pyro walked over to Engie. “Buh-bye,” Pyro said, waggling his fingers at everyone in the room before the three of them exited.

“You won’t die, promise,” Engie said. “I already tested it on just me but it’s meant for two so got to test it with two.”

“We’re not worried,” Medic said. He trusted Engie to have made it safe, it was just a bigger better teleporter after all. What difference could teleporting two people instead of one _really_ make? “After this you’re sleeping.” It was morning, he’d been working on it all night, fueled no doubt solely by coffee and passion. Admirable but unhealthy.

Engie’s shoulders stiffened as if he were getting ready to protest before sighing. “Yeah, ‘kay Doc. I didn’t mean to stay up so late working on it, you know how it is.”

Medic did, he used to stay up all night working on things too. He’d still be doing that if Pyro hadn’t become so insistent on making sure he went to bed before 1am ever since starting to hang out with him.

They reached Engie’s workshop. It was neat and tidy as always. There were now two double sized teleporters on either side of the room, already turned on. They were more than big enough for two people to stand next to each other. Apparently, they didn’t work exactly the same as standard teleporters despite how similar they looked, no matter how big a normal teleporter was built it was only ever able to teleport one person at a time, this one _should_ be able to do at least two, though they were hoping for more. Two would do for now though.

Pyro clapped his hands and said something that was lost in his mask as he pranced over to stand by the entrance. He looked up at Medic and gestured for him to come over too. His eagerness brought a warm smile to Medic’s face as he obeyed. Why Pyro was so excited was beyond him but it was sweet and cute nonetheless.

“I guess we’re doing this then,” Medic said as Pyro took his hand.

“Yup, uh… I guess go ahead, step on and hope this works.” Engie gestured towards them and the teleporter.

They stepped on the glowing disk together, side by side, still holding hands because Pyro like to hold hands ~~Medic did too~~. Even the whirring sound it made before activating was the same.

But the slightly unpleasant feeling of teleporting was _much_ worse, it was painful and _wrong_. There was harsh zapping sound followed by nothingness.

***

Pyro woke to the light being too bright and the feel of feel of cool air against his face. His mask was off so was his suit. It wasn’t uncommon for him to wake up without them these days since he often shared a bed with Medic and was comfortable taking them off around him, it made cuddling nicer, but something about it seemed off this time.

His memory wasn’t the best but… didn’t they step on Engie’s two-person teleporter last? He’d been excited about it, helping his friends test new things was always fun but it had felt _horrible_. Pyro had passed out because of it, not exciting or fun _at all_. Something had gone wrong. So…

He opened his eyes to see that yes, he was in the hospital area of the base. His vision was blurred for some reason though, making it impossible to see anything in detail. He’d been brought here after passing out and Medic had needed to take his suit and mask off him to either fix whatever the teleporter had broken or to make sure nothing was. But Medic had stepped on it with him, was he okay?

Pyro sat up. His head swam and the blurriness of everything didn’t help, he’d have to talk to Medic about that later. He slid off the bed, putting a hand on it to keep himself steady. His whole body felt off and weird. He did _not_ like it. He’d deal with it later though, first he had to find Medic and make sure _he_ was okay too.

He was in one of the recovery rooms. He squinted and looked around for his suit, he couldn’t leave without it but… it wasn’t in here? Yes, his vision was off but… it was a big red suit, it would be hard to miss. Whenever Medic had to take his suit off for surgery or to treat an injury he _always_ left it nearby so Pyro could put it on when he woke up so _where_ was it?

He whimpered as he looked around, even his voice sounded wrong – not important right now though. His suit and mask _definitely_ weren’t in here, there wasn’t anything that was even red. So… he could either go out and look for Medic anyway and risk people seeing him without his suit and mask – he was _not_ ready for that yet – or he could sit and wait for Medic to come to him. … He’d do the latter; if he was in a recovery room, Medic probably put him here, right? If it had been one of the others, they’d have left his suit on. So, Medic was probably okay, he’d just… forgotten to leave Pyro’s suit in here because of whatever the teleporter had done to them. He’d wait and… Medic would come fix everything soon.

He sat on the edge of the bed and folded his hands in his lap. They felt weird. He didn’t look at them, keeping his eyes on the door, waiting for Medic. Medic would fix this, he could fix anything.

The door handle rattle as it turned. Pyro perked up, ready to run over and hug Medic but… it was _Engie_ who poked his head in – it was impossible to see his face clearly but it was still no doubt him, any doubt there might’ve been was erased by the yellow hardhat. Which would’ve been _fine_ if Pyro had his suit on. He _liked_ Engie, they were friends but… Pyro wasn’t _ready_ for him to see him without the suit and mask yet. One day maybe he would be but _not now_. It was too late though, Engie was already stepping in.

“Good, you’re awake,” he said. “I was worried there for a… you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Pyro shrunk in on himself. Of course he wasn’t _okay_ , how could he possibly be okay? How could Engie be okay with this? They were _friends_. Why was Engie doing this to him? Pyro needed out _now_!

“Uh… Doc, what’s…”

Pyro jumped off the bed and ran past him and out the door, using his hands to cover his face. Engie shouted something behind him but Pyro kept running, not looking where he was going lest he run into anyone else and they see his face too. This had the unfortunate side effect of him not knowing where he was going and running into walls.

He eventually found his way out of the base though. Not his intended destination but running straight to his room would’ve meant going through the common room where he’d undoubtedly run into someone. He could hide out here somewhere until nightfall and then slink back to base and to his room.

_And_ out here he could start a fire and feed it until the pretty rainbows drove away his fear. He’d go to his happy place then everything would be okay until either Medic came and got him or he could sneak himself back to his room for his suit. Just _thinking_ about it eased his fear a little as he kept running. He needed to be far enough away from the base that no one would see the fire, with how hilly this area was that’d be easy.

Once out of sight of the base he felt even better. His breathing was still ragged and fast, his hands still shaking but his heart rate slowed as he gathered stuff for a campfire. He kept his lighter in his suit but he was an _expert_ , he could light a fire in a hundred different ways – maybe that was an exaggeration but not by much – including rubbing sticks together.

It took a while but he eventually got a spark to grow into a small flame. It was _wrong_ though, it was… orangish red, the way he’d seen fires depicted in art, not a pretty rainbow the way it was _supposed_ to be. And there was no urge to feed it.

He did anyway, with growing desperation. But it remained bland and empty feeling, no pulling him into the happy place with the pink clouds, giant lollipops, and dancing Balloonicorns.

“No, no, no, no.” His voice was wrong, _everything_ was wrong. He _needed_ his pretty rainbows and happy place, he needed them _now_. But the fire roared hot on his face, threatening to burn his hands with each thing added in to feed its ceaseless hunger, giving him _nothing_ in return even as his vision of it blurred further by the onset of tears welling in his eyes.

“ _Please_!” he screamed at it as he added in the last bit of fuel he’d gathered for this. But nothing changed, his rainbows and happy place were lost to him.


	2. Body Swap

Medic often didn’t want get up after a long sleep but now he _really_ didn’t want to. His body felt heavy and off, he’d rather just go back to sleep. But… he had work to do and he couldn’t feel Pyro cuddled up to him so using him as an excuse not to get up wasn’t possible.

He sat up, forcing himself to open his eyes before he could procrastinate himself into not doing so. He paused as he reached for his glasses – he always left them on the nightstand to the right of his bed when sleeping. There was something on his face already, not just his face but his entire head, a mask.

He reached up and pulled it off. It was… Pyro’s mask. _Why_? And despite not wearing his glasses he could see it clearly. _And_ he seemed to wearing the rest of Pyro’s suit too. It was heavy and more uncomfortable than it looked. What had _happened_? … The thing with the two-person teleporter, he’d passed out. Was this a prank?

He looked around the room. It was one of his recovery rooms. “Hello?” he called out. No one popped out though and his voice felt and sounded off too. What the fuck was going on here?

With a groan he slid off the bed. Pyro’s suits shouldn’t even _fit_ him, especially not so perfectly. He wanted it _off_. Before here could figure out how to accomplish that though he glanced to the side and caught a glimpse of himself in the decorative mirror that hung on the wall.

He approached, lifting a hand to touch his face. But… in the mirror it wasn’t his face, it was Pyro’s. It mimicked each and every expression and movement he made.

“ _Fascinating_ ,” he said, after several minutes of staring and poking at his face. This was astounding, it had untold amounts of potential implications. Engie was going to be amazed when he found out, they had so much they had to study.

First, he’d go find Pyro to ascertain they’d swapped bodies. That _had_ to be it, right? The teleporter had somehow swapped their bodies, they’d have to find out how and why. Ooh, they had so much work to do.

… This meant he couldn’t take off the suit though and had to put the mask back on. Pyro wasn’t ready to show himself to the rest of the team without it and Medic wouldn’t dream of going against his wishes there just because he was uncomfortable. But it was a fair price to pay for coming across this scientific discovery… if it could actually be called that.

He pulled the mask back on. It restricted his vision and made everything look darker – how did Pyro stand this all the time? He shrugged it off as much as he could before exiting the room.

“Oh thank golly you’re awake Pyro.”

Medic turned his head to see Engie approaching him. He was already opening his mouth to say something more but Medic cut him off. “I’m Medic, your teleporter somehow swapped our bodies. It’s fascinating, we’ll have to study it after we get Pyro.”

“I’m sure whatever you just said is important but…” He hadn’t understood Medic because Medic’s voice was muffled by the mask and he hadn’t spoken clearly. Dammit, he’d forgotten about that and taking it off wasn’t an option.

Medic held up a finger in his face, cutting him off. He turned and fast walked to his lab, it was just around the corner. He ignored Engie’s call for him to come back.

In his lab had a ready supply of blank paper and several writing utensils. He grabbed a paper and pen to quickly write out what he was pretty sure occurred, still ignoring Engie in the doorway. He needed to make sure he was understood. Once done he turned and handed the paper to Engie.

Puzzled, Engie took and read it over. He looked up at Medic and then back down at the paper to read it again. “You… sure? This ain’t a prank or anything?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Medic said, speaking loud and clear, belatedly remembering to use Pyro’s trick of reinforcing his words with a thumbs up and a nod. This was going to get _really_ annoying fast.

“That’s… fascinating but it uh… also explains some things.” The scientific wonder on Engie’s face faded back to worry. “If it’s Pyro in your body then, he’s run off and we can’t find him nowhere.”

Medic had been so caught up in his excitement he hadn’t paused to consider how Pyro might react to this situation. His mental state could be quite fragile at times, it might freak him out especially since he’d be without his suit and mask. “What happened and how long ago?” Medic wanted to run off and find him now but he needed to know more first.

“Uh… what?” Engie said. “Sorry uh… you don’t speak the same way Pyro does, it’s harder to understand you.” Of course.

Medic snatched the paper back from him and wrote his question down before handing it back. He was _not_ going to put up with not being understood when Pyro might be having a mental breakdown about this somewhere.

“Okay uh… I went in to check up on him, I thought he was _you_ but… I guess not. He looked real scared to see me and ran before I could ask why. I got the whole team looking for him around the base but… no one’s found him yet and it’s already been more than an hour.”

“I’ll find him.” Medic pushed past Engie to head out in the hall again. Pyro would either be in his room or outside somewhere setting fire to something to calm himself down.

The latter was more likely given the amount of time that had passed but Medic checked his room first. It was empty and undisturbed, he hadn’t even been in here. Medic took the pen and paper back from Engie who’d followed him.

‘ _He’s outside somewhere, go tell the others while I find him_ ,’ If he hadn’t figured out he was in Medic’s body he wouldn’t want anyone else to see him yet. Because of that, it was best Medic explain what happened. And he’d probably started a fire and calmed himself by now so there was no rush, though Medic would hurry anyway because he might hurt himself without his fireproof suit.

“You sure?” Engie asked when Medic handed the paper back.

“Yes.” They wouldn’t be able to hide that something was wrong from the team so there was no point trying. “Don’t tell Miss Pauling or the Administrator though, they don’t need to know.”

“Uh… don’t know what you just said but… okay, I’ll tell the team. Not Miss Pauling or the Administrator though, I don’t think that’d be a good idea.”

Medic held back a groan of annoyance, at least their bosses wouldn’t be told. He walked past Engie and closed the door before starting for the nearest exit.

 

Medic wasn’t big on personal comfort, he’d been in all sorts of uncomfortable clothing before but Pyro’s suit was something special. It was heavy, hot, and restricted his movement just enough to be more than a little bothersome. But the way the mask obstructed his view and made everything look darker was what really took the cake, he hated it. How Pyro stood it was a mystery.

It had already been half an hour and Medic wanted more than anything else to take it off. But he had to find Pyro first and make sure he was all right. Finding him was proving to be troublesome though. Where was he? He couldn’t have gone far, right? Probably out of sight of the base and that’s it, but which side? Definitely not the same side Sniper’s van was on. The opposite side maybe?

He trudged onward, arms hanging down, over a particularly steep hill and… found him! Maybe, he’d found someone at least. Someone who lay at the bottom of the hill in front of a pile of ash.

Medic half ran the rest of the way down the hill. Yep, it was him. He wasn’t sleeping though but wide awake, trembling and curled in a tight ball. His face was _very_ disconcerting to look at. It was Medic’s face and twisted up in a look of abject terror, looking at it almost made Medic feel physically ill. It was Pyro though and thus there was nothing in heaven nor hell that could make Medic turn away.

“Pyro?” Medic said, crouching down in front of him and pulling off his mask. “It’s me Medic.”

No response, Pyro didn’t seem to be able to hear or see him. What was wrong? He’d clearly gotten a fire going, he should be happy. He’d let it die though, _why_?

“There was a mistake with Engie’s teleporter.” Medic forced himself to speak calmly despite how his own body trembled with fear for his partner. Freaking out wouldn’t help Pyro, if anything it would do the opposite. “We seem to have swapped bodies somehow, it’s really quite fascinating, right?”

He slipped off his gloves and took one of Pyro’s hands in his, he didn’t want to touch him too much without his permission. “So you’re okay, ja?” He switched to German, saying whatever came to mind, hoping Pyro would eventually come down from whatever this was. His voice felt and sounded weird, because it was in truth Pyro’s voice but he ignored it.

He seemed to be sitting there for _ages_ before Pyro’s trembling and breathing slowed. “W-what’s going on?” he said in a soft voice after a little bit longer. Hearing him speak was _weird_. But the fact that he was _able_ to speak sent a wave of relief through Medic.

“Uh… um…” he stammered before finding his voice to explain what happened with the teleporter again. It was sometimes hard switching from speaking German to English, especially when he was so on edge.

As soon as he was done explaining, Pyro pushed himself up and threw himself into Medic’s arms. It was weird essentially hugging himself but they both needed this, especially Pyro.

“So that’s why everything’s all wrong?” Pyro said with a sniffle as he pressed his face into Medic’s chest. Oh dear he was crying now too.

“Yes, that’s why everything’s all wrong.”

“You’re accent sounds kind of funny in my voice.” Good, even if he was still crying, he was able to notice and care about stuff like that.

“I’m sure it is, you sound odd too.” Everything about this was odd and fascinating but… apparently upsetting for Pyro. “Everything’s going to be okay now, we’ll fix this.”

“Soon?”

“As soon as possible, promise.” Medic would like to study the phenomenon more but not at the cost of it upsetting Pyro this much. … Maybe he could get two other members of the team to go through the teleporter and study it then, that’d be easier to do anyway. He might have to drug them to do it but they’d live and would eventually stop being mad at him about it.

He held Pyro, letting him cry as much as he needed to, occasionally murmuring a promise that it was okay now. It was uncomfortable but he didn’t care. Eventually Pyro stilled and seemed to be falling asleep. Not surprising, Medic was starting to feel emotionally exhausted as well. But this wasn’t a good place for a nap.

“Feel better?” he asked, giving Pyro a light nudge.

He jerked back awake and groaned as he sat up, separating from Medic with visible reluctance. “Sort of, I guess.” His face was streaked with tears and he was dirty from lying on the ground. His hands looked like they’d been burned a little, calling attention to it right now probably wasn’t smart – it didn’t look serious anyway so it could wait. “I… can’t see very well though, I don’t like it.”

“That’s because I need glasses and you’re not wearing them.” Being able to see clearly without glasses was nice, they were often a pain.

“Oh, that… makes sense. But… but… the rainbows are gone. I know why now I… guess but… it’s still scary. I miss them.”

“What do you mean? You ran out of fuel for it?” Medic asked. When Pyro said ‘rainbows’ he more often than not meant fire. The ashes next to them pointed to Pyro having lit a fire not too long ago. “We can go gather some more if you like.” He wanted to go back to the base but if Pyro needed to light a fire to feel better Medic could wait.

“No, I mean… I can’t see them anymore. It’s…” Pyro reached over and pulled the lighter he always carried with him out of Medic’s pocket. He flipped the lid open. “It’s empty,” he said as he flicked it with a practiced hand, getting the flame to take instantly.

Whatever he said next was lost on Medic’s ears as his eyes were drawn to the flame. Except it wasn’t really fire, was it? Certainly didn’t look like one Medic had ever seen before. It was a dancing rainbow of colours and the most _beautiful_ thing Medic had ever seen. It was so _tiny_ though, he _needed_ it to be bigger.

Almost against his will, his hands reached out and cupped the lighter, taking it. Something was… wrong here but he needed to make this little dancing rainbow _bigger_.

“You see it?” Pyro’s excited voice was almost enough to pull Medic’s gaze off the flame, _almost_. “Of _course_ you see it, if I lost it when we swapped that means you have the rainbows now, right?”

“Uh… ja.” Medic tried to tear his gaze away but… couldn’t. He should be able to study this phenomenon with a clam, rational, scientific mindset but… the _urge_ to feed the fire – because it _was_ a fire, _not_ a rainbow no matter how much it might look like one – was so strong it made it hard to think. … He didn’t like that.

Pyro said something more but Medic wasn’t paying attention anymore. He lowered the lighter to the ground, holding it there until the meagre half dead layer of grass caught fire. The rainbows spread, they were still so small though and… Medic _really_ shouldn’t be doing this. He couldn’t stop though. It was almost like he was watching someone else move the lighter around to help the grass fire spread faster.

Suddenly there were twigs and other bits of tinder being added in by someone else. The fire grew and grew as stuff was added to it. The bigger it got the more beautiful it was but… it wasn’t big enough.

He should stop now, just study it and this phenomenon but couldn’t. He looked around for more stuff to add to make it _bigger_. There was nothing though, ugh. He leaned closer instead. It should be hot on his face, right? He didn’t seem able to feel it. Odd… fascinating… dangerous.

Something was said from beside him. The tone of it was enough to cause him to shift his gaze over for just a second before going back. No! It was important! But the fire was so _pretty_ and it was starting to die already. He needed to feed it. There was still nothing nearby though and… and the lighter had been taken from him? When had that happened and why? Which left him to sit there and stare at it, enraptured.

_How_ long he sat there staring into it was impossible to say. But when it finally did fade into nothing Medic was filled with an initial rush of sadness followed by relief as he was finally able to look away and more importantly _think_. Sort of any, his mind felt similar to how he felt when he went a couple days without sleeping except not tired.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Pyro said with a sniffle.

Medic looked up at him, his head swimming. Everything was pink and there were rainbows in the sky, the clouds looked like cotton candy. Where a tree was supposed to stand was instead a giant lollipop. Even the dead grass and piles of ash were lively looking. It wasn’t real but it _looked_ real.

“Sometimes it doesn’t pull so hard,” Pyro continued, wiping at his face with the sleeve of his wrist. He’d been crying again and… Medic had been ignoring him. “But you’re… in the happy place now, right?”

It took Medic several seconds to sort through Pyro’s words. He nodded. Pyro had told him of his hallucinations after being exposed to fire for a period of time. He hadn’t used that word and Medic suddenly understood why, it was a _very_ vivid hallucination, even _knowing_ it wasn’t real didn’t dispel it any. Given enough time exposed to it anyone would might begin to question reality. If what Pyro said about it was true, it would only seem _more_ real and suck him in deeper if he kept lighting fires. And… he _wanted_ to but… _thankfully_ not bad enough that he couldn’t resist the urge.

“I don’t like it,” Medic said. Insanity was fine, he’d never worried about it and his grasp on it had never been firm, but he had no _control_ of this situation. He was a man who’d played god on more than one occasion, done things that should’ve been _impossible_ , held the lives of his team mates – one of them being the love of his life, the others, his friends – entirely in his hands and he’d been rendered helpless and nigh on mindless by a mere flame from a lighter. Pyro had been crying right next to him and he _hadn’t noticed_.

“English?” Pyro said hesitantly. “It’s cool to hear my voice in German though.”

Medic hadn’t realized he’d spoken in German. He took a deep breath and tried again. “I… don’t like… this.”

Pyro wilted. “Oh… I… Why not?”

Medic lacked the capacity to explain it right now he just wanted it to stop. He shook his head, closing his eyes and raising a hand to cover them.

Arms wrapped around him, pulling him close. He shuddered in relief as he relaxed into it. Pyro was real and solid. Medic _hated_ wearing the suit more than ever though, he wanted _real_ contact. Nothing could be done about it yet though, he’d just have to take what he could get.


	3. Broken

“When does this _end_?” Medic complained after looking up from Pyro’s shoulder for the umpteenth time.

“Should be soon,” Pyro replied. The fire hadn’t been big and it hadn’t lasted long, so it had to end soon.

“I _hate_ it.” Medic pressed his face back into Pyro’s shoulder, gripping onto him tight and using him as an anchor. Pyro was familiar with that, being held by Medic always helped him return ‘reality’ faster.  As much he liked the lollipop trees and Balloonicorns he liked Medic more and was thus always willing to return to the ‘real world’ for him.

Here though, Medic was clinging to him, _desperate_ for that full return. He was in _distress_. But… it made sense. Medic _liked_ being in control, he liked it a _lot_ , it’s why he was a doctor, the rainbows took that away. They were dangerous and scary like that… Pyro missed them. And not being able to tell for sure what was real or not would be scary for most people, right? So of course he was unhappy.

It was another half an hour or so before Medic looked up again. “It’s… it’s fading, I think.”

“It should be gone soon then.” When it started to fade always made Pyro feel a bit sad but… Medic sounded relieved of course. Hopefully this whole mess could be fixed quickly so everything would go back to how it was supposed to be.

“Good.” Medic sighed and leaned his head back into Pyro’s shoulder. He wasn’t as tense anymore though. Pyro continued to hold him and a short while later he looked up again. “I… think I’m good to go now. I never want to do that again.” Hopefully there wouldn’t even be time to.

“Back to base then?” Was Pyro ready for that though? Everyone would see him without his suit on… but he was in Medic’s body so it was fine. Only it wasn’t, it was still scary. His normal fear about them seeing the real him was irrational and dumb, this even more so.

Medic carefully separated himself from Pyro and stood up, looking around, rubbing his head as if he had a headache. “You okay with heading back to base?” he asked, looking back at Pyro.

“I… think so. It’s scary though.”

“Want me to head back first and bring back something to cover yourself with?”

Pyro was tempted to say ‘yes’ but… he didn’t want to be alone, the setting sun made it nigh on impossible to see with how blurry his vision was – how did Medic live with this? And… he should be able to handle this, it would maybe even be practice for when he showed his friends his real face – he would eventually no matter what… maybe. So he shook his head instead. “Hungry.” He hadn’t eaten in a while and wanted to soon.

“Me too,” Medic said with a sigh as he pulled the gas mask on. Pyro _loved_ him for doing so, he could’ve chosen not to and Pyro would’ve let him, but he did anyway. He said something more but… it was impossible to understand.

Pyro giggled in surprise as he stood up toos, getting a glance and another mumble in response. Now he finally knew why people had such a hard time understanding him, Medic’s accent would only make it harder.

“Sorry you just sound funny. Let’s go.” He wanted to get this over and done with as soon as possible so he could eat and then rest. Hopefully Engie and Medic could fix this tomorrow morning. Or if they could fix it tonight, that’d be even better, he’d put up with staying awake and hungry for longer if it meant he’d get his body back.

 

Medic held his hand the entire way back to base. It was further away than Pyro had thought it’d be, he’d run far. The lights were on, meaning there was at least one person in common area, perhaps even waiting for them.

Pyro was frightened but he kept going. He was in Medic’s body, everyone saw Medic all the time, so it was _fine_. Knowing that made it less scary but… not as much as he would’ve liked.

“You’re late maggots!” Soldier shouted at them as soon as they stepped through the door. It wasn’t just him either but the entire team, standing and sitting around the common room, obviously waiting for them.

“Is it true?” Scout shot up to stand in front of them. “You guys really switched bodies ‘cause of Engie’s thing?”

“Yeah,” Pyro said in a choked whisper, trying not to shrink away. Medic said something too but it was impossible to understand, it sounded defensive though.

“Give them room,” Spy snapped at Scout and Soldier. “They’ve had a rough day.”

Scout backed off without an argument, Soldier didn’t. “That doesn’t excuse them being late, if I hadn’t been so worried, I’d order you both to drop and give me twenty.” _Then_ he stepped back, thankfully.

He’d been _worried_ , judging by the way they’d all hung out waiting for Pyro and Medic to return they’d all been worried. That was… really sweet, even if Pyro felt bad for being the cause of their concern.

“Sorry about… earlier,” Engie said as he awkwardly stepped forward. “Didn’t know about… you know, didn’t mean to freak you out. You okay now though?”

Pyro nodded, giving him a thumbs up before stepping forward and giving him a hug. It was weird, Medic’s body was slightly taller than his own, but he owed Engie a hug for earlier. He’d assumed Engie was betraying him when that hadn’t been the case at _all_.

“Wow, if I didn’t believe it before, I do now,” Scout said accompanied by a laugh from Demo.

Pyro hugged Scout and then Demo next before moving on to hug the rest of the team. He loved all his friends – not as much as he loved Medic – and appreciated that they’d all been worried about him. _And_ now that nothing had gone wrong he was even less afraid about them seeing him.

After releasing Spy from his mandatory hug – he often hugged Spy last when hugging everyone – he turned back to Medic. He stood watching with his arms crossed. Pyro hugged him too, tighter than all the others as always. It was weird, hugging his body while in Medic’s body, but he didn’t care. He also didn’t care that all the others saw too, like Medic did as evidenced by his slight stiffness as he returned the hug.

“I… want my body back now please,” he said to Engie after reluctantly letting go of Medic.

“Well… about that, I don’t know if that’s possible right now. I’ll show you, c’mon, the rest of y’all can scram now.”

Surprisingly, everyone listened while Medic and Pyro followed Engie once more. He led them back to his workshop, not saying anything along the way. Pyro took Medic’s hand again, he liked holding hands and it made him feel safer from the worry Engie’s words had brought.

“They’re broken,” Engie said as they stepped and he flourished a hand to where the teleporters had been that morning. Yep, they were obviously broken, the twirling bits were bent and misshapen and their bases were collapsed.

“Can you fix it?” Pyro asked, speaking loud and clear solely by habit. … _He’d_ have to be the one who communicated now that Medic would be the one people had a hard time understanding.

“I plan to, might take a few days though. I want to figure out exactly what happened and why and…”

“Fast as possible please, no studying,” Pyro interrupted. Both Engie and Medic were scientifically minded, they’d want to study everything about this and figure the whole thing out which would draw out the amount of time Pyro was stuck without his rainbows. He was being selfish for making this demand but… he couldn’t handle this for long. “ _Please_ , I don’t like this.”

Both Medic and Engie looked at him. Medic said something unintelligible, patting his Pyro’s arm. He seemed to maybe be agreeing though, he certainly wasn’t upset.

“Right then,” Engie said after some thought. “I’ll make it fast, promise.”

“Thank you.” Pyro nodded and gave him two thumbs up. Reinforcing his words with hand gestures wasn’t necessary while in Medic’s body but it was a hard habit to break.

“Go rest now, it’s late, I’ll start on this first thing in the morning.”

***

The moment Medic freed himself of the fireproof suit he let out sigh of relief and collapsed onto the bed, legs hanging off the side. He was in desperate need of a shower but that would mean putting the suit back _on_ to go down there and then he’d have to put it back on to come back.

“How do you stand it?” he asked with a groan.

“I got used to it,” Pyro said as if it were no big deal. “You don’t… have to… wear it, if you don’t want to. I know you’re not…”

“No, it’s fine,” Medic cut him off. “You’ll show the rest of the team your face on your terms if and when you’re ready.” This was a big deal, Medic wasn’t going to treat it like it was nothing no matter how uncomfortable he was. “And it’ll only be for a day or two.” Hopefully. The solution should be easy, right? All Engie had to do was fix the teleporters and they’d go back through it and it should switch them back. But then again, they hadn’t thought anything could go wrong when they’d went through the first time.

“T-thank you,” Pyro said in a whisper. “Food?” They’d chosen his room solely because he stored food in here since he ate in here anyway so the rest of the team wouldn’t see his face.

“Uh… I need to bandage your hands first… they’re a bit burned.” Luckily, Medic kept some basic medical supplies in here too just in case.

Pyro frowned as he looked down at his hand. “O-okay. Sorry for… burning them.”

“Eh, it’s fine.” Medic couldn’t be upset with Pyro right now even if he’d wanted to be. He just wanted to fix him up, eat something, and then sleep for a day and half.


	4. Birds

The glasses made it possible to see stuff properly. Pyro didn’t like them though, he had to adjust them every so often and they kept getting dirty so he kept having to clean them. Not even the lenses in his gas mask got smudged this often and he went into fiery battle with it on.

And seeing everything properly was _weird_. When he looked in the mirror, he saw Medic’s face and looking at Medic in his body was surreal, especially when he wasn’t wearing the fireproof suit. It was all wrong and weird, Pyro wanted it to stop. He wanted things to go back to normal.

But they weren’t going to, not for a while anyway. The teleporters that had caused this were still broken. Medic and Engie were discussing how to fix them and who knew what else, Pyro’s expertise was burning things down, not complex science stuff. Medic had to write everything he said down, his accent combined with the gas mask made him impossible to understand when he spoke, which was only going to mean this would take longer.

Pyro sat to side while they did that, resting his head in his arms on Engie’s work table. Sleeping would be nice but… he couldn’t even though he felt tired, it sucked. He would try hanging out with some of the others but, while in Medic’s body they were bound to look at him different, they certainly had last night and this morning when he’d snuck out to get breakfast for himself and Medic. It was an awkward and unhappy situation for everyone.

A gloved hand was placed on his arm. He glanced over to see it was Medic. That weird sense of displacement he got when looking at him was offset by the mask but still there. He held up the notepad he was using to communicate with Engie, the words ‘ _are you okay?_ ’ were scrawled on it in his messy handwriting.

Pyro shook his head. He wasn’t in the mood to speak even if he’d be easy to understand now.

‘ _need me to get you something?_ ’ Medic wrote next.

Pyro shrugged. He looked over to see that Engie was actively working on one of the broken teleporters, he and Medic had presumably figured out exactly what they planned to do about this.

‘ _want to go back to your room?’_

Pyro shrugged again but stood up. He felt a little better when Medic took his hand on their way back.

As soon as they had the bedroom door closed again, Medic pulled off the gas mask. Pyro was tempted to take the glasses off so he wouldn’t have to clearly see his own face looking back at him. He didn’t though, not yet, instead he looked away as he sat on the edge of the bed.

“What’s wrong?” Medic asked.

Pyro shrugged again. He wanted his body and suit back. He felt exposed and wrong like this. He _loved_ Medic more than the world but didn’t want to be in his body.

“Pyro I…” he cut off with a sigh before stepping forward to wrap his arms around Pyro. It felt strange due to their current situation but… Pyro melted into it anyway.

“Better?” Medic whispered, not letting go.

“A little, thanks.”

“I love you, you know that, right?”

“Yeah, love you too.”

They held each other, taking comfort in physical contact for a long while before finally letting go, doing so more out of necessity than actually want to stop. Pyro felt _much_ better, not having the rainbows be available to him was still scary but he was safe with Medic. And Medic and Engie would fix this as fast they could.

“We’re going to have to figure out what to do about battle tomorrow,” Medic said.

“We could maybe just… do our normal thing?” That would be _hard_ though. The flames being empty and lifeless was upsetting to see and without the urge to feed them he wouldn’t be driven to do nearly as good a job as was expected and needed from him. They couldn’t pretend to be each other either though, even if Medic was okay with the rainbows and happy place he didn’t have practice controlling himself while dealing with them the way Pyro did. Meaning it could be _dangerous_ for everyone if he tried using a flamethrower.

“Nein, I doubt that’ll work. We might have to call in sick.”

“Are… we allowed to do that?” Pyro had never taken a sick day before, not even when he _was_ sick, neither had Medic as far as Pyro knew.

“Yes, as the team’s doctor I have to sign off on it though. You might have to pretend to be me to tell Miss Pauling. How good are you at faking a German accent and sounding like you’re disabled by illness at the same time?”

“Uh… not good.” Pyro had trouble speaking normally sometimes, changing his voice and making it sound natural was something he’d never had reason to even try before.

“Hmmm… we could get Spy do it. He’s good that.”

Pyro nodded, letting out a sigh of relief. He liked battle but… a _large_ part of the reason he did was because it allowed him to enjoy the happy place and ‘share’ the rainbows with people without him hurting anyone he didn’t want to hurt. There’d be little point in going when he didn’t have that, it’s _why_ he’d signed on as a mercenary. “What are we going to do until Engie fixes the thing?”

Medic shrugged. “I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”

\---

Pyro had finally found the _one_ good thing about this awful situation. The birds _liked_ him. They only liked Medic but they thought he _was_ Medic now so they liked _him_ now. They were even willing to step onto his hand when he held it up for them.

He cooed happily at them as he petted them. Their feathers were soft and wonderful to touch. He _loved_ them, well he’d always loved them even before he’d started loving Medic, but now they loved him too.

Medic said something in German to Pyro’s left. He’d taken off the mask and seemed to be trying to get Archimedes to step onto his hand. But Archimedes refused, side stepping away for a few seconds before finally flying off, coming to roost on Pyro’s shoulder.

Oh no! Since they thought Pyro was Medic, they thought Medic was Pyro and thus didn’t like him anymore. Sad! Medic loved his birds.

“Sorry,” Pyro said in a whisper.

“No, it’s fine,” Medic replied. “I expected this and they like you now so… it’s fine. I’m happy for you.”

Pyro fidgeted, should he feel bad for how the birds liked him when they weren’t supposed to? But… he was happy to finally be able to pet them. … Medic said it was fine though so… he was okay to enjoy it, right? And it was the only enjoyable part of this ordeal.

“You have fun with them.” Medic put a hand on Pyro’s arm. “I’m going to go find Spy and tell him to impersonate me and call us in sick tomorrow with Miss Pauling and the Administrator. You going to be okay by yourself?”

Pyro nodded and gave him a thumbs up before going back to petting the birds. He was happy here with them, he’d be okay by himself for a while.

***

Though fully expected, the birds not liking him anymore was a little upsetting. Seeing how happy Pyro was with them more than made up for it though, especially after how down he’d been this morning. Medic could live without the affection of his beloved birds for a couple days.

So after forcing himself to pull the gas mask back on, he exited his lab and went into his office. He found his notepad and wrote down his plan to get out of fighting tomorrow on the front page before leaving to find Spy. A task that could prove impossible at times but luckily for once, he was in his rooms and even answered the door on the first knock.

Medic handed him the notepad. And since he couldn’t be understood… “Schweinehund.” No reaction. He could say _whatever_ he wanted, call his teammates anything he liked and they wouldn’t know. “Dummkopf. Idiot. Asshole.”

“I don’t know what you’re saying but I know you’re insulting me,” Spy cut in before Medic could come up with another insult. “And I know it because I know _you_.”

Medic crossed his arms and glared at him through the mask. “Fuck you too then.” It wasn’t that he took pleasure in the insults themselves but more in the fact that he could say them and get away with it. It was a nice power to have.

Spy sighed and shook his head disapprovingly. “I’ll do it though. I doubt either of you would be of much use like this tomorrow anyway.”

“Good,” Medic said before remembering to respond physically. With a sigh, he nodded and gave Spy a thumbs up. _Now_ he could go insult people and get away with it.

 

By the time lunch time rolled around the thrill of being able to say whatever he wanted without consequence had mostly worn off. The thrill Pyro was getting from playing with and petting the birds seemed to still be running strong though, getting him to leave so they could eat took some convincing.

As soon as they were back in the room after grabbing food from the kitchen, Medic stripped off the suit. He couldn’t stand to wear it for even one more second, it was the _most_ uncomfortable thing he’d ever worn. Poor Pyro, if he was willing to put up with that all the time to hide himself – he even _slept_ in it sometimes – then showing his face must be a _really_ big and scary thing for him. The fact that he’d been brave enough and trusted Medic enough to take the suit and mask off for him was an even _bigger_ deal than Medic had originally thought. What had he’d done to earn _that_ kind of love and trust? … The answer was nothing.

“I love you,” he said looking at Pyro.

Pyro smiled, even if it was Medic’s face it was still nice to see him happy again. “I love you too.”

“You’re the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me and I don’t deserve you.”

“What are you…”

“Don’t worry about it dear, just letting you know. And I don’t care if I don’t deserve you, you’re mine as long as you’re willing to have me.”

“Thank you.” Pyro hugged him, squeezing him tight. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me too.”

\---

Medic couldn’t sleep. It felt like he’d drunk ten cups of coffee and now had the jitters because of it. But he hadn’t, in fact he’d had tea to try to try to clam himself down for bed. But if anything it had only made the anxiety and sense of urgency thrumming through him stronger.

“You okay?” Pyro asked with a stifled yawn as Medic shifted position for the umpteenth time.

“Yes, I’m fine.” He _should_ be fine. There was nothing to be anxious about but… even just lying down seemed like too much. He needed to be doing something.

There was a few seconds of silence where Medic had to _force_ himself to hold still before Pyro popped up. “I know what’s wrong, you want to burn something.”

Medic hadn’t considered it but… yes, that’s what he needed to do. He could almost see the pretty dancing rainbows, he _needed_ to bring them into existence. But… not being able to control himself was _not_ appealing, losing his mind in the rainbows even more so.

“I get like that sometimes,” Pyro whispered. “But you… don’t like the rainbows huh?”

“No, I don’t.” As fascinating as the phenomenon was he’d _much_ rather study it from the outside when he would actually be able to _think_ about it instead of his mind going blank.

What _caused_ Pyro to hallucinate fire as rainbows and why did the bring about the ‘happy place’? Psychological trauma? Innate insanity? Brain damage? A mixture of two or all three of them? He couldn’t figure that stuff out when he was the one affected by it.

He sat up. “How long have you been like this?”

“I… don’t know, my memory’s not good.”

“Did something happen to make you start hallucinating this stuff?” Medic needed a distraction form the image of the fire in his mind begging him to make it a reality.

Pyro’s answering shrug was just visible in the darkness.

“What’s your earliest memory?”

“Don’t know, don’t like thinking about the past.”

Medic clenched his fists in frustration. He needed to know more but… Pyro didn’t like to talk about it. “Are you sure you don’t know? Was there ever a time when you _didn’t_ see fire as rainbows?”

Pyro drew his knees up to hug to his chest. “Are… are you going to try to fix me now?” he said in a barely audible whisper. The fear in his voice had Medic freezing as guilt crashed through him.

“No, no, of course not. Why would you think that?”

“Those are the kinds of question the people in the suits ask when they try to fix me. I don’t want to be fixed, I like the rainbows. Is that… bad?” His tone suggested he was on the verge of tears. Medic had fucked up big time.

Medic put a hand on his arm. “Nein, that’s not bad. You don’t need fixing, you’re perfect just the way you are. I just want to know more. It’s fascinating.”

“Really?” Pyro sniffled a little but he sounded better.

“Yes, really.” It _was_ , getting to experience it only peaked his curiosity about it. It was just… unpleasant having his control of himself and his mind one small flame away from being torn away. “Is there anything you can tell me about it that you’re comfortable sharing?”

“Well uh… I think there was time when I didn’t know I was killing and hurting people when I shared the rainbows with them. I don’t remember it too well because I don’t really remember clearly what happens in the happy place. And… and I taught myself all the ways to set things on fire because I need the rainbows sometimes. But I don’t need them as much as I used to because… I have you now and our friends. I’ve never had that before, thank you. I could… maybe even live without them if I had to.”

Medic kissed him on the cheek. “You won’t have to. We’ll be back to normal soon, I promise.” Hopefully.

Pyro uncurled himself to hug Medic, holding him close. It eased some of the tension in Medic as he let himself relax into it.

“Does this need to burn something ever pass?” he asked when they reluctantly separated.

“Yes, takes a while though. Need a… distraction? Or do you want to… try it? I’ll… make sure you don’t burn anything down and uh…. help you stay in control maybe. It’s… real nice.”

Medic was tempted to go with the later. _But_ seeing fire would make Pyro unhappy and he liked being able to think too much to risk giving it up. “Distraction.” A card or board game would do. He didn’t want to keep Pyro up but… if he was willing to stay up and help, Medic wasn’t going stop him.

***

Medic fell asleep slumped over in his chair. Pyro let out a sigh of relief. He was tired but… it wasn’t as bad as it should’ve been considering the fact that the sun would begin rising in less than an hour. … It was because he was in Medic’s body, Medic stayed up stupidly late all the time, his body was used to it. Pyro’s wasn’t which was why Medic had practically passed out.

Pyro stood with a yawn and went around the table to gently pick Medic up. He didn’t stir even when Pyro placed him on the bed and put the cover over him, good he needed rest. Pyro then packed the board game they’d playing along with the card table and chairs, folding them up and placing them back in his closest.

He barely remembered to take off the glasses before crawling back into bed. With a contented sigh, he cuddled up Medic, being careful not to wake him. Engie would hopefully fix the teleporter today so they could go back to normal before nightfall. And then everything would be okay again.


	5. Sleep

“There, that aught do it,” Engie said with a satisfied sigh as he stepped back from the oversized teleporter exit. He checked the clock, it was nearing midday. He’d stayed up all night last night working on it. Great, he was tired as all hell again and he’d missed today’s battle. Whatever though, fixing the mess he’d made was more important.

Hopefully it would work and not break this time. The adjustments he’d made should help with that but… who knew what could happen? He hadn’t even considered for more than a few seconds that they might switch bodies by going through it the first time.

With a yawn, he exited his workshop. He’d eat something, go find them, send them through the teleporter and then finally get some sleep. Hopefully he hadn’t ruined his sleep schedule _too_ badly and hopefully the Administrator wouldn’t be too pissed at him for missing today.

He plodded into kitchen and… froze. Heavy was in here. Why?

“Engineer, hello,” he said, sounding far too cheery to Engie’s sleep deprived brain.

Engie shook his head, trying to think. “Shouldn’t you be in battle?”

“No, three people missing is too many, we take day off. Spy’s idea, he called us all in sick, pretending to be Doctor. And we want to make sure Doc and Pyro get back in correct bodies.”

“Oh, won’t the Administrator be mad though?”

“Da, but she can as Scout put it, ‘suck it up’. Anyway, am making sandwiches for everyone, want one?”

“Yes, thank you.” Engie felt like he would starve to death if he didn’t eat something in the next five minutes.

 

After stuffing his face as fast as he could while his sleepless night fully caught up to him, Engie went looking for Pyro and Medic. Turns out, they were still asleep, or at least still in Pyro’s room.

He knocked firmly on the door. “Teleporter’s fixed,” he called loudly into it.

There was a few seconds pause before an answer came. “Okay, be there in five minutes.” Whose voice it was, was impossible to say for sure with the door muffling it but he suspected it was probably Pyro. He was the morning person. But then again, their swapped bodies might mean it was Medic. Eh, didn’t matter.

“Okay,” he said. “Make it snappy.” He left to wait for them in his workshop.

 

They entered his workshop a few minutes after he did. Even the way the way they walked was weird and off putting. Engie hadn’t realized they _had_ such distinct ways of walking until he’d seen this. This whole mess was interesting to say the least, if only he could study it more to find out how it had happened. But Pyro had been _insistent_ on fixing it soon as possible, Engie couldn’t leave him in distress for the sake of science.

“All righty, step on and hope this fixes it.” He gestured to the teleporter entrance, it was already glowing and ready to go. If this _didn’t_ work, he’d have no idea what to do but it _should_.

Medic, no Pyro in Medic’s body, nodded and gave him a thumbs up. He then took Medic’s hand and walked onto the teleporter. It whirred and flashed, Pyro and Medic vanishing. There was sparking sound and smoke rose out of it but that was it, Engie’s improvements kept from breaking entirely.

He turned to face the exit. Like the first time, as soon as Medic and Pyro appeared on it they collapsed, unconscious. That _should_ be a good sign, right? Since that that had happened the first time. There was no way to know until they woke up and if last time was any indicator that would only happen after a long wait.

He approached and crouched down to check their pulse. Well Medic’s pulse anyway, he wouldn’t mess with Pyro’s mask and suit while he was unconscious unless it was _absolutely_ necessary to save his life, which in this case it wasn’t. Medic seemed fine other than for the whole being unconscious thing, so all that was left was to call Heavy in and have him carry them to the recovery rooms. Engie would have a nice nap and _hopefully_ everything would be normal again when they all woke up. If not, they’d have to figure something else out. For now, though, Engie wasn’t going to worry about it.

***

Pyro woke with a slight headache. He didn’t open his eyes yet. What if it didn’t work? What if there was no way to switch back? What if he was stuck without his rainbows for forever? … That would be bad but… he could live with it, he had Medic and he had his friends. So…

He opened his eyes. … He was looking through the lenses of his gas mask! It had worked! He was back in his body and thus he had his rainbows back!

He jumped up, sliding off the bed and clapped. He skipped to the door and out, he was safe inside his suit, no need to fear _anything_ least of all his friends. First, he was going to tell Medic how wonderful this was and then he was going to go outside and play with his rainbows.

Medic wasn’t hard to find, he was in the next room over. He was still asleep. Should Pyro let him sleep or wake him up with the good news? … It was still daytime, he could sleep tonight.

He put a hand on Medic’s shoulder and gently shook him until he stirred awake with a groan. “It worked,” Pyro said, “Engie fixed it.” He owed Engie a hug later for doing so, so quickly.

Medic mumbled something in German as he sat up and reached for his glasses. He looked blearily around and then down at his hands. “Yeah, seems to have worked, _good_ ,” he said with a sigh of relief. He slid off the bed and Pyro hugged him.

“Want to go off a start a fire now?” Medic asked as they separated.

“Yes.” Pyro nodded, resisting the urge to bounce on the balls of his feet.

“Go have fun then, don’t burn anything down.”

“I won’t, promise.” Pyro hugged him one more time before skipping out of the room.

***

Medic smiled fondly as he watched Pyro prance off to do his thing. With how excited he was it was maybe not safe to let him go off by himself to start a fire but Medic trusted him and it had been months since he’d done anything that posed even a potential threat to the base so it’d probably be fine. If not they could deal with that later.

He exited and made his way to his office. He sat at his desk and grabbed a fresh pad of paper and a pen. He wrote down everything he knew about Pyro’s experiences with fire, both from what he’d said last night and what Medic himself had experienced while in his body. It wasn’t much but it certainly was more than before, enough that Medic wanted to know more.

Not that he hadn’t wanted to know before but he’d refrained from asking questions once it became obvious Pyro didn’t like them and wouldn’t answer – he’d shut down completely if pressed too hard, the fact that Medic had driven him to that more than once early on was now a shameful memory. If he was careful though and asked only for information Pyro was comfortable sharing, he could learn more. He’d probably never know the full story but that was fine, he didn’t need it.

Once he had that sorted out and organized, he left to find Engie and thank him for fixing this so promptly. He found him in his room after searching for a while. He was sleeping so deeply he hadn’t woken up when Medic knocked on the door. He’d have to thank him later then after he’d gotten his much-needed rest.

Next stop was his lab. The birds were happy to see him and he was _extra_ happy to see them. The way they’d shunned him while in Pyro’s body had been pretty awful. But all was right with the world again.


	6. Epilogue

“You motherfucker!” Scout shouted as expected once Medic told him what he’d done.

“I believe that term applies more to Spy than it does me,” Medic replied with a smirk.

Scout glared and made an unintelligible sound of anger in response. It was kind of funny coming out of Sniper’s mouth. “I’m going to bust your face open if you don’t fix this right fucking now.” The Boston accent sounded even weirder in Sniper’s voice.

“You’ll be fine,” Medic waved off his anger, enjoying it a bit too much. “I just need to study the effects the body swap has on the mind and body. Once I’m done you can go back through, I promise.”

“Bloody wanker,” Sniper mumbled under his breath from the bed next to Scout’s. His scowl on Scout’s face was comical enough to almost make Medic laugh out loud.

Engie sighed and shook his head from his spot by the door. “Told you they’d be mad.” He’d put up little more than a token resistance to this plan because he wanted to know more too and Medic had already gone to all the trouble of drugging their test subjects.

“Mad doesn’t even begin to cover it,” Scout said, still shouting. “What the fuck is _wrong_ with you? Why the fuck would you do _this_?”

“Oh, plenty of things are wrong with me.” Medic scoffed. “And I did it because I can, it’s for science.”

“You could’ve asked,” Sniper said, still glaring daggers at Medic.

Asking for volunteer had occurred to Medic. He’d dismissed the idea because there was no way anyone would volunteer for it.

“Where’d you put the teleporters Engie? We’ll just go back through them,” Scout said, slipping off the bed.

“Uh… they’re missing. Doc moved them.” Engie had helped too though, he knew where they were. It had been him who’d suggested the hiding spot Medic had chosen.

Scout turned to face Medic again. “Fucking figures, Medic where are they?”

“I’m not telling,” Medic replied, grinning and putting his hands behind his back. “And don’t bother threatening me, it won’t work.” He’d taken beatings for his experiments before, he’d survive. And Scout wouldn’t kill him even if he said he would.

“How long is this going to last?” Sniper asked, still scowling as he too slid off the bed.

Medic shrugged. “Long enough for me to get all the data I need.”

“So, a while, figures.” Sniper looked around the room, clearly very displeased. “Fuck you.”

“Come on Snipes, let’s go look for the teleporters and fix this shit ourselves.” Scout gave Medic two middle fingers before stalking out.

“Doubt we’ll find them but it’s worth a try I suppose,” Sniper said with a sigh before following.

Medic let them go. They’d calm down eventually and then Medic and Engie could study and experiment on them.


End file.
